Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

The House on Nightingale Hill

Selçuk (Türkiye)

On Nightingale Hill, on the slopes of Mount Solmiso, a few kilometers from the ruins of Ephesus, stands a humble stone hermitage that the Turks affectionately call Meryem Ana Evi: the House of the Mother Mary. From ancient times, there has been a tradition that the Apostle Saint John, upon receiving Mary at the foot of the cross, took her with him to Asia Minor, where he carried out his ministry. Many faithful believe this to be the Virgin's final resting place, where she is said to have lived her last years and where her Dormition took place.

It must be said with affection and truth: that Mary lived in Ephesus is a tradition, theologically possible, but not found in Sacred Scripture nor in conclusive archaeological evidence. The most reliable historical sources tend to place Mary's death in Jerusalem. The building that can be visited today is, according to studies, a small Byzantine church, probably from the 13th century, built upon older structures.

What is documented is a moving chapter from the 19th century. Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), a German Augustinian nun who never set foot in Turkey, described in ecstasy a stone house on a hill near Ephesus, with a well beside it. The writer Clemens Brentano recorded her visions between 1818 and 1823. Years later, priests and laypeople set out in search of it and found a ruined building that matched the description, well included. In 1891, the site was recognized as a Catholic shrine, and the investigation by the Archdiocese of Izmir (1892) deemed it a scientifically and theologically justifiable hypothesis, without definitively confirming its authenticity.

The most beautiful and well-documented feature of this sanctuary is its shared veneration. In Islam, Mary (Meryem) is the mother of the prophet Jesus (Isa) and enjoys extraordinary respect, being mentioned repeatedly in the Quran. Among Turkish Muslims, there is a custom of making a pilgrimage to the House of Mary on August 15th, coinciding with the Christian feast of the Assumption. They come to light candles, leave notes of petitions on a wall of wishes, and honor Mary as a pure woman and the mother of a great prophet. The House in Ephesus has been visited by Paul VI (1967), John Paul II (1979), Benedict XVI (2006), and Francis (2014).

For those who pray the Rosary, this hill naturally invites contemplation of the glorious mysteries, especially the Assumption and the Coronation, around the feast of August 15th. There is no known historical link between the house and the origin of the Rosary; rather, it is a place where people meditate and pray today, in the surprising company of brothers and sisters of other faiths who also look to Mary with love.